HTC Touch Pro2 review: Out with a pro

Design and construction (continued)

The left side of the HTC Touch Pro2 features nothing but the volume rocker. No issues to report here, this straightforward control is hardly worth too much discussion.

There is nothing but the volume rocker on the left

The bottom features the miniUSB port for connecting the data cable, charger and the headphones. The other thing to note here is the stylus compartment, which isn't magnetic this time. We are not quite happy with the way the color of the stylus handle is different from the surrounding surface. Without giving that much of a boost to usability, it looks like a designer's oversight. Anyway, it isn't big enough to spoil the overall impression the phone makes.

The Touch Pro2 sports a miniUSB port for data, voice and charging as usual for HTC

The stylus of the Pro2 is active, meaning that it will wake the phone up automatically when pulled out. And if you do so during a call it will launch the Notes applications, so you can quickly put down a phone number for example.

On the top of the Pro2, typical of HTC WinMo devices, there is only the power key, which is also used for toggling the standby mode.

The power key is on top

The memory card slot is on the right side of HTC Touch Pro2 and is of course hot-swappable. Unfortunately, you will have to remove the battery cover (and that is quite a task on this one, mind you) every time you access the slot.

You will have to take the back panel off every time you reach for the memory card

The HTC Touch Pro2 rear features the stereo speakers and the 3 megapixel camera lens. While the whole gray mesh looks like a loudspeaker grill the actual area used are two small apertures on either side of the camera lens. The rest is just fancy (or not) design.

The stereo speakers are on either side of the camera at the back

The camera doesn't have a flash to boost its low-light performance so don't expect miracles from it (nor should you in daylight either actually). We will get back to that in greater detail later in the review though.

The back side of the Touch Pro2 also features the second microphone that is used for cancelling unwanted noise during calls. There is also a small mute button to use in speakerphone mode when you want to turn it's the mic off for a sec.

Under the battery cover is the 1500 mAh Li-Ion battery that powers the HTC Touch Pro2. It should last up to 500 hours of stand-by or 8 hours and 30 minutes of talk time in 2G networks and up to 750 hours of stand-by or 6 hours and 30 minutes of talk time in 3G network. Those numbers are pretty impressive and imply great power management on a device with a screen that huge and also many power-hungry features.

A powerful battery under the hood

The other element of interest under the back panel is the reset key. The small red button can only be pressed with the stylus or a similar pointed object.

The reset key on the Touch Pro2

Sliding the HTC Touch Pro2 open reveals one of its key features - the five-row full QWERTY keyboard. We have to admit the slider action is a bit too rigid for our taste. It isn't something you cannot get used to though.

An extra friendly keyboard

Upon opening the keypad, the screen automatically rotates to landscape orientation. And then the fun starts. The keyboard is brilliant, with great ergonomics although the press feedback takes a bit of getting used to. Once you are past that though you will be speeding your way through endless texts just like that.

The five-row layout is of great help here and the keys are still big enough to handle comfortably. The press is solid and touch orientation is quite good so, in general, there is little reason to complain about the QWERTY keyboard. The added spacing between the keys, thanks to the larger overall size of the device is also more than welcome.

We would have preferred the Space bar to be double the length but nothing is perfect you know.

The backlighting is strong and even

The general build quality of the HTC Touch Pro2 seems superior to the original Pro. However, that doesn't necessarily mean outstanding. It's just that its predecessor turned out to be pretty fragile in the long term. We certainly hope that the new materials and paint will turn out more durable than that.

The HTC Touch Pro2: great to handle, but make sure you can live with its size